It’s time for a few random thoughts

Published: Sunday, June 16, 2013 at 07:38 AM.

From time to time I record a few random thoughts that aren’t weighty enough for a whole column but worth a mention in my opinion. Here are a few that have crossed my mind lately:

Everyone has a word or two they find irritating. Bling is pretty high on my list because it always seems to be attached to a half-naked person named Kardashian. And I’m not too fond of gluing the word “super” in front of another one, as in “superstar” or “supermodel.” I’m OK with Superman, but beyond that, it’s all silliness. However, the one word in the English language guaranteed to send me around the bend is “utilize.” Why not say “use”? People who use “utilize” seem like they’re trying too hard to sound smarter than they are. Listen to how many times that word comes out of the mouths of politicians and government officials and you’ll see what I mean.

This is a perpetual complaint of mine, but drivers approaching merging lanes (particularly when there’s road construction and one lane is closed) with plenty of notice who still persist in driving all the way down the closed lane and then force their cars into the other lane are disgusting, self-important idiots and should have to sit in the unmoving lane until hell freezes over. I was nearly hit by a dreadlocked imbecile in a damaged white car on Bell Fork who did that and then decided that hitting me was fine as long as he got in front of the line. He forced me out of my lane and into oncoming traffic. Fortunately, there was nothing coming the other way or I would have hit another car head-on. I wish police traffic units would set up on those merging construction lanes once in a while and discourage that behavior.

I quite like that people now have to use their real names if they want to comment on most web sites. I hated anonymous comments because readers could wax so ugly without giving their real identities. To me, if you want to say something, say it up front, without hiding behind a fake name or ID. I’ve noticed these changes have cut down on the vitriol and just plain nastiness and people have more civilized, productive discussions. That doesn’t mean that all of the nasties have packed their bags and gone home, but it does keep the anonymous sniping down to manageable levels. Much better.

I think cable news is causing a lot of the divisiveness in American society and we need to stop watching so much of it. I was taught that news professionals should never have preconceived ideas about the events we cover, but these so-called anchors constantly imbue their opinions into the news. There are only a few places in the news where bias is acceptable: columns, which are opinion-based, and op-ed. In broadcast, it’s acceptable from someone like Bill O’Reilly or Jon Stewart, but not from news anchors or reporters of any persuasion, except when on a show about opinions. Those lines have blurred all across the spectrum, which means the press is influencing the news in ways it should not. The media should not BE the news. It should not SHAPE the news. The news should happen and the press should REPORT it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Feel free to disagree with me — lots of people do; some of them even eat my cooking.

Carole Moore welcomes email at carolemoore_biz@yahoo.com.

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From time to time I record a few random thoughts that aren’t weighty enough for a whole column but worth a mention in my opinion. Here are a few that have crossed my mind lately:

Everyone has a word or two they find irritating. Bling is pretty high on my list because it always seems to be attached to a half-naked person named Kardashian. And I’m not too fond of gluing the word “super” in front of another one, as in “superstar” or “supermodel.” I’m OK with Superman, but beyond that, it’s all silliness. However, the one word in the English language guaranteed to send me around the bend is “utilize.” Why not say “use”? People who use “utilize” seem like they’re trying too hard to sound smarter than they are. Listen to how many times that word comes out of the mouths of politicians and government officials and you’ll see what I mean.

This is a perpetual complaint of mine, but drivers approaching merging lanes (particularly when there’s road construction and one lane is closed) with plenty of notice who still persist in driving all the way down the closed lane and then force their cars into the other lane are disgusting, self-important idiots and should have to sit in the unmoving lane until hell freezes over. I was nearly hit by a dreadlocked imbecile in a damaged white car on Bell Fork who did that and then decided that hitting me was fine as long as he got in front of the line. He forced me out of my lane and into oncoming traffic. Fortunately, there was nothing coming the other way or I would have hit another car head-on. I wish police traffic units would set up on those merging construction lanes once in a while and discourage that behavior.

I quite like that people now have to use their real names if they want to comment on most web sites. I hated anonymous comments because readers could wax so ugly without giving their real identities. To me, if you want to say something, say it up front, without hiding behind a fake name or ID. I’ve noticed these changes have cut down on the vitriol and just plain nastiness and people have more civilized, productive discussions. That doesn’t mean that all of the nasties have packed their bags and gone home, but it does keep the anonymous sniping down to manageable levels. Much better.

I think cable news is causing a lot of the divisiveness in American society and we need to stop watching so much of it. I was taught that news professionals should never have preconceived ideas about the events we cover, but these so-called anchors constantly imbue their opinions into the news. There are only a few places in the news where bias is acceptable: columns, which are opinion-based, and op-ed. In broadcast, it’s acceptable from someone like Bill O’Reilly or Jon Stewart, but not from news anchors or reporters of any persuasion, except when on a show about opinions. Those lines have blurred all across the spectrum, which means the press is influencing the news in ways it should not. The media should not BE the news. It should not SHAPE the news. The news should happen and the press should REPORT it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Feel free to disagree with me — lots of people do; some of them even eat my cooking.